SMALL WONDER
Diminutive QB Murray driving force behind undefeated Cards
KYLER MURRAY towers now over shortsighted traditionalist naysayers who understandably have clung to their stereotype of the prototypical NFL quarterback. Good for him. Good for the Arizona Cardinals.
It turns out that unicorns can be 5-foot-10 ¹/8.
MVP candidates can be, too.
The Cardinals are the last undefeated team standing, and it is mostly because Murray is standing taller than anyone.
So if there are other 5-10 quarterbacks out there, there is hope.
“As long as you have the uncanny ability to run around and make plays and throw the ball on a dime, yeah,” ESPN ”Monday Night Football” analyst Brian Griese said.
No one, except perhaps Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury and Murray himself, could have expected this kind of elite NFL quarterbacking from a 5-10 ¹/8 quarterback ... Heisman Trophy winner or not.
“It’s a concern . ... You don’t see guys 5-10 at quarterback,” Griese said. “Doug Flutie ... Drew [Brees] was taller than that . ... But it’s a real issue seeing the field, and seeing over once those offensive linemen stand up at 6-5, 6-7, you as a quarterback you lose vision on at least 30 percent of the field right off the bat.”
But the more Murray plays under Kingsbury, the less of a Hail Murray is needed to see the emergence of a transcendent talent.
“And while he might not be able to see all of the field, or as much as a 6-6 quarterback,” Griese said, “I think the experience is helping him understand what he can’t be is not hurting him.”
For an insightful peek behind the Cardinals’ curtain, Serby Says turned to former Giants guard and current Cardinals lineman Justin Pugh.
“He can throw the ball as good as anybody in the league, and he can run it as good as anybody in the league,” Pugh said, “which is a scary, scary thought.”
There were also reservations about whether Murray, quiet and reserved, could lead a group of grown men.
“He’s not the loudest guy, he’s not the lead-from-the-front screaming and yelling,” Pugh said. “He has command of the huddle, he makes sure we’re all on the same page, but he’s not like the biggest rahrah guy. And when I was in New York, Eli [Manning] wasn’t the biggest rah-rah guy, he led by example. He has the team playing inspired, the team playing behind him, and if you get that, that is dangerous.”
Manning had a tight bond with his offensive line, and Murray is making an effort to forge one.
“This year we started doing O-line dinners,” Pugh said, “and he comes to all the O-line dinners, he jokes around, and when you do those things off the field, where you get you know each other off the field and what people’s interests are, what they like or who their loved ones are in their lives, that makes it even better, that makes it even more special, that makes you want to block for that person even harder.”
Pugh gives a surprising answer when asked what makes Murray (nine passing touchdowns, four interceptions, 1,273 yards, 76.1 completion percentage) unique.
“His demeanor,” Pugh said. “Everyone gives him a hard time and like, hey, he looks like he’s all pissed off on the sidelines at times. Kyler’s on to the next play. He’s unflappable in the sense that if something goes bad, he’s moving on to it. He may look grumpy, but we all know quarterbacks make faces sometimes, that’s the nature of the position, the camera’s on ’em at all times. He truly believes that when he has the ball in his hand, he is gonna make a play, and he always does.
“That confidence, that confidence, that swagger, that rubs off on the whole offense, and makes us play at a higher level.” Murray, like Russell Wilson, was a heralded baseball player, and one of those natural-born ballers and winners.
“In the fourth quarter [of last week’s 37-20 win], we’re backed up on our own goal-line, thirdand-7, the Rams get into a pass-rush package,” Pugh said. “Kyler sees a particular look and checks to a [Chase Edmonds] run, something he had not done in the past. We break off a 54-yard run, take seven, eight minutes off the clock, end the game. Kyler has come such a long way and has become a leader on this team that it’s given everyone around him that confidence that he is gonna put us in the best spot to be successful.”
The synergy between Murray and Kingsbury, who have a relationship dating back to 2012, when the former Texas Tech coach began recruiting the former Allen (Texas) H.S. wunderkind, has been instrumental in the Cardinals’ perch atop the league as the most explosive offense (440.5 yards per game, 35 points per game).
“We’re evolving,” Pugh said. “We’re finding out who we are. We have a lot of weapons, whatever you take away from us, we’re gonna morph and we’re gonna evolve and we’re gonna attack it. So we are an attacking-style offense. We have people kind of hating on Coach Kingsbury and the kind of offense we run, but it’s shown to be successful. Everyone said, ‘Oh, it’s pretty-boy football, they can’t run the ball.’ ”
Except now, with the dynamic Edmonds and the smash-mouth James Conner, they can mix in some Neanderthal football.
“It’s not the traditional Air Raid offense,” Griese said. He pointed to last week, when the Cardinals ran the ball 11 straight times on a game-sealing fourth quarter drive to finish the Rams. “This is an offense that is learning and understanding with two good backs now that they need to run the ball to take pressure off the offensive line. They can’t just drop back and throw it every snap like they do in college. I give credit to Kliff Kingsbury for evolving, and understanding what can and cannot work in the NFL for 17 games. It’s a different animal.”
It is, however, an offense that has forced Pugh to adapt.
“There’s no clock,” he said. “You never can stop blocking. With Eli, it was always everything on time, he was gonna make the proper check, get us on the right people, ball was coming out on cue, and with Kyler, he might check, he might look at it, he might make somebody miss and then throw a bomb, or check to a route to D-Hop [DeAndre Hopkins], and we kind of go off and play a little backyard football on some plays. At other times, he can pull the ball and run and keep the defense honest.”
Can he ever — 23-for-109 with three TDs on the ground.
“There’s not many defensive linemen that if Kyler knows they’re coming at him can tackle him one-on-one,” Pugh said. “There’s clips over and over again of him making these guys look silly and making a play. Obviously we don’t want to have to put him in that situation, but plays break down all the time, Kyler has that X-factor to get us out of it.”
Murray has never been the trusting sort, but he has great trust in Kingsbury. “Mr. Cool,” is what Pugh calls his coach.
“They’re tied at the hip,” Pugh said. “Those two have come up together. And that’s where a lot of these teams that you see that had success, going to the playoffs, going to the Super Bowl, it’s a coach paired with the quarterback of his choosing going on and making plays.”
Cardinals general manager Steve Keim signed J.J. Watt to add much-needed leadership and pair with Chandler Jones on a defense loaded with playmakers.
“They’ve got playmakers at every level of that defense,” Griese said, “and I really have a lot of respect for [defensive coordinator] Vance Joseph and his approach. So it’s not just the Kyler Murray Show.”
Maybe not, but there is no question Murray is the Straw That Stirs the Drink.
“We feel like we can go out there and we can score on anybody,” Pugh said. “I think if you ask teams, do you want to play the Arizona Cardinals? I bet you a lot of people would rather play someone else than us.”
Hail Murray, and the Cardinals.